Why I Volunteer At Shakespeare North
Wed 4 Jun, 2025
Written by Mark Lee, winner of our Volunteer Award, as part of our Volunteers’ Week 2025 celebrations
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with Wallace and Gromit. My parents got me a DVD with every episode on it, and I watched it so much that I wore the disc out. There were only three episodes out at this point – this detail unfortunately dates me – but that wasn’t enough. I asked my Mum for a notebook, which I quickly filled with the continued adventures of that mad Northern Inventor Wallace and his silent but judging sidekick. What started out as a need for more stories set in a world that I loved, quickly led to the invention of new worlds and new characters… Before I knew it, that book was full and I was left with scribbling stories onto scraps of paper and sellotaping them into the back of it. Sure, my Mum got me a new notebook, but as any writer knows, it’s a challenge to start at the first page of a blank book. You start second guessing every word and questioning every action. It was far easier to use up a roll of Sellotape and keep putting it off.
Most people grow out of their childhood habits, but mine never left me. There hasn’t been a day that’s passed, since I started writing in that blue notebook, that I have wanted to be anything other than a writer. Naturally there were a lot of obstacles in my way. Most notably: I didn’t really have anyone to look up to, who had done it before. There was Sue Johnston, of course… Every time the Royle Family was on TV, my parents would point at her “she grew up in Prescot”, and offer words of encouragement “look, anything’s possible!” That’s about the closest connection I had to that world.
There were always rumours that the Playhouse was in development, but I never truly believed it would happen. We always get rumours round here – a few years ago, everyone would tell you that they were going to build a KFC on the grounds of the recently demolished Green Dragon pub. That never happened. It instead became another car park. Cheers, we needed another one of them.
So I was thrilled when the opposite happened: the old car park, across the road from where the Blockbuster used to be, was suddenly surrounded by wooden gates, proudly promising a theatre. I’m not sure that I’ve ever smiled as much as I did that day. Before I knew it, it was built. It was actually here. Suddenly, this world that I believed to be so inaccessible was right on my doorstep. I got involved as quickly as I could and it was the greatest decision I have ever made. I’ve found that there is something incredibly special about this building. It seems to attract the kindest, most caring of people, all of whom are constantly looking out for me, encouraging me to be the best version of myself I could possibly be. I started here over two years ago as an anxious, nervous, post-Covid wreck of a man. And while I’m still not completely free of those anxieties, I can honestly say this place has done wonders for my confidence – and for my belief that my words matter.
This theatre changed my life, even back when it was just a cordoned off car park. It had me at hello.
